


Vinegar Tom

by ZeldaByrdeBishop



Category: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (TV 2018)
Genre: tw: mentions of fasting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:40:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25756009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZeldaByrdeBishop/pseuds/ZeldaByrdeBishop
Summary: Edward and Hilda decide to give Zelda a gift in order to brighten her spirits
Comments: 6
Kudos: 33





	Vinegar Tom

**Author's Note:**

> Set in the world of "A Witch By Another Name"
> 
> You can all thank hypothetical_chainsaw for this piece of fluff! Bless her continuous fluffy encouragement! <3
> 
> TW: Mentions Fasting

Edward came into the kitchen and leaned against the kitchen counter, watching as Hilda chopped parsley. “I’ve been thinking.”

“Oi! Well  _ that’s _ quite dangerous!”

He smirked and stole a parsley leaf, chewing on it delicately. 

“Zelda hasn’t really left the church since she came back from the trip she made a few months ago.”

Hilda nodded and put the parsley in a large bowl, picking at the leaves that stuck to her hand before smacking Edwards hand gently as he tried to steal more leaves, “We won’t have a salad if you keep eating it!”

He shrugged and quickly shot his hand past her’s stealing a small pinch that he quickly secured into his mouth as she giggled. 

“So! I’ve deduced that our lovely sister is clearly not doing well. She hasn’t left her knees for the Dark Lord in ages and not in the good way. I’m worried she might try to implement a nunnery in our new church system!”

“Oh! Edward, Stop it!” Hilda chided, moving on to cut the walnuts for their dinner salad. 

“Either way…..I’m worried about her,” he confessed, his voice finally getting serious.

Hilda stopped cutting and nodded, “I know…...me too. She hasn’t really made any friends since we moved to Ireland like she usually does - our little social butterfly - and I wish she would just be out with it and tell me what happened on that trip. I can’t help but feel it was about that letter!”

Edward scowled, “The one addressed to Kristen Kringle? Preposterous.”

“Well! Give- me another explanation and I’ll gladly take it! But for now that’s the only theory I’ve got!”

Edward swiped a walnut.

“EDWARD!” 

The warlock chuckled and ducked away from the nut she threw, “See! You’re putting them to waste my dear sister!” He scolded in jest. 

“Am not!”

“Are too!” he assured, picking up the fallen nut, just to throw it back, inciting a giggle from his youngest sister. 

“So! Do you think we should get Zelda a familiar?” He finally asked.

Hilda frowned and gave her brother a look, “You were there for what she did to the last one!”

“I know! But mother had acquired it for her and it was a  _ snail _ which was a cruel jab to express the least.”

Hilda totaled her head from side to side, “....We’d have to make sure it wasn’t a familiar she could step on….” She shuddered imagining the sickening purposeful crack Zelda had relayed to her in  _ great _ detail when she stepped on her familiar to show her distaste for the slimy creature. 

“Did we receive the book for this year?”

Hilda nodded and gestured to the drawer under beside the oven. “Should be in the second drawer.”

He walked over and retrieved the book, from the drawer, dusting off the cover,  _ Church of Dark Clover’s Familiar Index: Year 1755 _ .

“Alright,” He declared, plopping the book onto the counter to thumb through it, “It’s slim pickings, but out of what’s still available, we have a grey goose -”

“A vicious creature. No, I’d fear for my ankles!”

“....A…..Lizard? A Cockroach. A strange bird? I don’t even know what that is - and a puppy!”

“Oh!!! Edward! We could get her a little pup to ease her little heart! How nice!”

“It’s settled then. The puppy it is. I’ll call Father Carlyle immediately!”

***

When scowled upon entering the door to their home, seeing her brother and sister in the foyer grinning, “What’s got you two in such high spirits?” She had just spent the past forty-eight hours in fasting, having spent as much of that time on her knees praying to the Dark Lord to forgive her for her weak heart. She would have to try again in a day or two after taking a day to get just enough food in her system so she could go for longer. She would have thought turning her hunger pains into devotion would have worked, or at least helped, in turning her mind away from her agony over the mortal’s death, but nothing seemed to help. It was a disgrace. 

She headed for the kitchen. 

“Edward’s got a surprise for you!” Hilda cried after her, bouncing after her sister where she was met with a puppy.

Zelda froze, looking down at the small spotted creature in the middle of the kitchen floor. 

“......A dog?”

Edward smiled and squeezed Zelda’s shoulders from behind, “A familiar.”

She scowled, crossing her arms. “I don’t need a familiar. I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself. Familiars are for ninnys and children.”

“Oh! Zelds!” Hilda chided as she scooped up the puppy, thrusting it in her sister’s face, “Look at his little face!”

Zelda’s scowl grew as she took a half step back, “He reeks of vinegar.”

Hilda’s lips pursed as she sniffed his fur, “M… I - I suppose he does..”

“And his eyes are sad.”

“...Yeah…I s’pose they are...”

“So get rid of him,” Zelda stated before breaking past both of them and moving to make herself something more filling than Hilda’s parsley salad. 

Hilda frowned deeply looking up at Edward, who shook his head, mouthing, “Give her time.” 

Hilda nodded and gently set the familiar down, “Sorry love...and for the record, you only smell slightly of vinegar.”

***

Zelda’s eye followed her arched eyebrow as she peered over her book at the familiar who sat to the side of the fireplace, watching her. Hilda and Edward had long gone to bed, leaving the witch up alone. 

“Aren’t you supposed to talk? Isn’t that what separates a familiar from a common house pet? Mental vocal chords?” Her voice was dry and crude.

The dog remained motionless and silent, almost as if he were a statue. 

The witch scowled and moved her book to block her image of the dog. 

She forced herself to focus on her Satanic Bible for a few minutes, but found it increasingly harder to concentrate and she dared another peek. The dog had moved only to lie down, but remained staring at her. 

Her scowl grew hard and her lips set together. “What?”

The dog said nothing. 

“What!? What could you possibly want?”

She was greeted only with silence and Zelda snapped the book back up to cover her face, grumbling, “My brother  _ would _ get me a daft dog….”

She peered over the book one more time and was greeted with the familiars’ displeased gaze. 

Zelda simply shrugged the gaze off and stood up. “I’m going to the kitchen. Follow or not. I couldn’t give less of a damn,” the witch declared before turning on her heel to sneak another piece of the cake Hilda had made for their dinner. She was unwilling to admit that hearing the gentle clicks of the dogs claws against the hardwood floor behind her gave her a small sliver of comfort as she took a plate and fork from the cabinets. She glanced at the dog as he sat a few feet away from her while she unveiled the cake, serving herself a large slice before settling herself on the floor, her back against the cabinets. 

The dog’s gaze moved from her to the floor, where one of Hilda’s spiders began to crawl in front of his paws and the dog moved his paw to squish the spider with a low growl. 

Zelda snorted and shoveled a fork full of cake into her mouth, “Good Boy.”

The dog padded over and sat beside her while she ate, a small smile playing on the witch’s lips as she licked the fork clean of frosting. 

“....Maybe you can stay,” she confessed as she offered a bit of frosting to the pup, who happily licked it up off her fork, “Even if you do still smell like vinegar….”

The dog seemed to roll his eyes. 

***

Hilda smiled to herself when she padded downstairs in the morning to find Zelda curled up on the couch with the dog snuggled under her arm, her sister’s Satanic Bible lying unceremoniously on the floor. 

Humming to herself she began breakfast, scrambling eggs and making french toast, when she jumped as a pain clamped on her ankle, “ouch!”

Down at her feet was Zelda’s familiar, looking up at her expectantly. “Oi! No! No biting. ZELDS!”

Zelda slowly emerged from the living room as Edward’s footsteps came steadily down the stairs. “Yes, Hilda?” Her sister’s voice was an irritated drawl as she leaned against the doorframe. 

“Tell your….dog - nipping is not alright!”

The familiar looked back to Zelda and Zelda rolled her eyes, crossing her arms. 

Edward swooped into the doorway, kissing the top of his red haired sister’s head, “I see we’re all already in good spirits this morning?”

The puppy came at Hilda’s ankles again before looking up at the toast. 

“Hey! Edward! Tell him no!”

Zelda smirked and flicked her wrist to drop a piece of the french toast from Hilda’s plate onto the floor by the dog’s feet. The puppy quickly picked it up and ran back to Zelda, lying beside her feet to gobble up the toast. 

Edward snorted, “I see you two have gotten on already?”

“A rotten little creature!” Hilda snarled under her breath as she side eyed the dog, cracking another egg. 

Zelda’s smile grew as she leaned down to stroke the dog’s ear, “We have. Thank you, Edward. He’s a beautiful present.”

Edward smiled as he watched them, already able to feel his sister’s spirits rising. “Does he have a name yet?”

Zelda beamed as she stood, crossing her arms in front of her, puffing up as if it were the most spectacular name in existence, “Vinegar Tom.”

Hilda froze with a grimace and looked to Edward, egg shells in hand. 

Edward’s mouth drew into a fine line as his eyes widened slightly.   
Zelda scowled and Vinegar Tom looked up with a growl. 

“What?!”

“Nothing!” Edward quickly defended, scooting into the kitchen to get away from the dog, just in case. “It’s a lovely name, Zelds.”

Zelda nodded and stood defiantly, “It is.”

Hilda shot a look in Edward’s direction and handed him his breakfast plate. They were going to regret this puppy weren’t they? 

Edward nodded slightly and sat down at the table, “Any plans after breakfast, Zelds?”

Zelda flicked a lock of hair behind her shoulder as she straightened her shoulders, “Actually, as a matter of fact, yes. We have grand plans don’t we Vinnie!?”

The dog looked up at his master, his droopy eyes bright as his tongue hung out, happy as a clam. 

Hilda rolled her eyes and set Zelda’s breakfast plate down, “Well, eat up then. You don’t want to wither away during your grand plans…”

Zelda smiled, taking the plate and ate at the table, giving half of her food to the familiar, who gobbled it up leaving a mess on the floor, that Zelda clearly had no intentions of cleaning as she stood, leaving to run off to wherever she had made plans, the dog scampering after her. Hilda rolled her eyes and cleared the table. “This is your fault.”

Edward nodded and shrugged, sipping his coffee, “A rotten dog for a rotten sister. We should have predicted it.”

Hilda sighed and cleared the table, “We should have gotten the lizard.”


End file.
